New Upper Learning Building Opens at Riverdale Country School

BRONX, NY – Shawmut announced the completion of Riverdale Country School’s Upper Learning Building, with a special ribbon cutting ceremony. Shawmut CEO, Les Hiscoe, and vice president of Shawmut’s New York institutional division, Tony Miliote were in attendance along with Riverdale Country School faculty, administration, and guests.

Shawmut’s work included demolition of the Perkins Building and construction of a new 23,000-square-foot building which is now home to new classrooms for third, fourth, and fifth graders, a dining hall, kitchen, multi-purpose rooms, and theatre. To ensure campus life wasn’t disturbed during construction, Shawmut built a temporary learning complex for students to use, as well as set up a webcam and time-lapse video to relay frequent construction updates to the faculty, staff, and parents keeping them updated on progress. The Shawmut team collaborated with, teachers, faculty, and students to make the numerous construction projects on campus as educational as possible. They taught classes to second and third grade students on the sustainable elements of the project and the storm water detention system, and included an interactive material board for students to touch and learn what exactly was going into the new building.

“I am very proud of how our team worked together with the Riverdale Country School to ensure campus life wasn’t disrupted and construction of the new Upper Learning Building was completed smoothly,” said Tony Miliote, vice president of Shawmut’s New York institutional division. “Overall this project was a true collaborative success.”

The building features innovative designs including curved façade and glazing systems, and efficient lighting system, as well as has interactive skylights that utilize the sunlight to illustrate cardinal directions, colors of the spectrum, and time of day. The Upper Learning Building is the latest project completed by Shawmut at the Riverdale school. The firm is currently building Riverdale Country School’s Aquatic Center and making renovations to the Marc A. Zambetti '80 Athletic Center.